Manali: Valley of the Gods

Like every other teenager, it was my dream as well to see this place of beauty. Goa?? No. Manali. And finally, it came true in January 2020. Probably one great thing that happened before lockdown.
Our college planned a 7 day trip to Delhi and Kulu-Manali and as luck had it I could convince my parents to let me go for the trip.

The journey Begins: Delhi to Manali
The Journey Begins: Delhi to Manali
Photo Courtesy: Aathira

The Journey Begins:

We left for Delhi on the 11th Jan. But it wasn’t Delhi that we had been waiting for. It was Manali. We just wanted our day in Delhi to be over as soon as possible.
On 12th night we left for Manali on a bus. What a ride I must say. From what a ride I mean the more brilliant it was, the same way sick it was. We started having more sick people on the way and it became worrisome after a point. We were supposed to reach our hotel at Manali by noon but due to some reason, we got late.

Hunger was creeping through our bodies and we were tired. It was then my friend Abhinav came up with the rescue. A kettle and several packets of Maggi. Did he foresee this? We wondered. We cooked our Maggi in the kettle inside the bus.
But let me tell you. There was a moment when we saw the one thing that we were longing to see. Yes, snow it was. Our joy knew no bounds we started jumping and dancing on the bus. And by 5 pm we reached our hotel.

Beauty of Manali
Photo Courtesy: Aathira

Beauty of Manali

Everywhere we saw, it was snow. We forgot the fact that we were hungry. We started throwing snow at each other and playing around and laughing. It felt like “Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani” coming to life.
The next day we went to Solang Valley. What a treat to our eyes it was. The beauty of nature was inexplicable and we were lost in it. The snow-capped valley just looked like vanilla icecream. Beautiful.

We did tier sliding, rode sliding, skiing and ATV motor sliding. It was sooo much fun. While we were leaving Solang valley it started to snow a bit. By the time we reached Hadimba Devi temple, the snowfall had increased to a great level. We experienced that most beautiful sight of snowing and that was unforgettable. It gives me chills down my spine even now.

The next day, on our way to Kulu from Manali we stopped for river rafting. It was such an impromptu plan. We sang songs, screamed and enjoyed without bounds. We had no extra clothes with us and we were all drenched and wet. Later we went to a gurdwara. The peace there was really refreshing. Later on, we did some shopping on the streets of Manali and started our journey back to Delhi that night.
We reached back to Hyderabad on 19th of January. This trip was the most memorable journey of my life and a dream come true.

Want to read more? Check out this experience story on Kerala!

Kerala: My Visit to the Backwaters

My trip to Kerala was a surprise trip that my Dad had planned in the year 2010. So I stayed in Coimbatore for some days and then started on my beautiful journey to cover all the South Indian states. Sounds amazing right? Kerala was amazing. I chose Kerala because of how it has left an impact on my mind.

The Princess Street in Kerala! Photo by Ramneek Flora

PRINCESS Street

We stayed on the Princess street in Kochi or Cochin. And the hotel was not that costly yet not very cheap but there is one funny incident that I cannot forget about that room. I and my brother we have always had a nature of touching things and probably ruining things as well. So we found a ‘safe’ kept inside the cupboard and we being the notorious lot. We kept putting new passwords and changing that old one. Then one time we forgot the password we kept, I and my brother freaked out and that happens to be our biggest secret till date.

The day we arrived at Kerala we got to our hotel and didn’t do much that day as we were late because of our driver and my dad wanted to click pictures of everything. So we changed our clothes and went out for dinner.

If you don’t like crowded places then Princess Street is not the one for you at night. We had prawns and chicken obviously. The food was a highlight because of its taste and that little hint of coconut in probably everything, seemed pretty good to my taste buds. And the best part of the dinner was that it was so casual to see foreigners dancing on the street while enjoying their Beers. The aura of that scene was amazing.

Morning in Kerala. Photo by: Ramneek Flora

The next day was the best day because we woke up early and went to the beach to look at these huge nets of fishermen and saw people playing in the sand early morning. That was my first experience with beach and I collected shells but I could not carry them with me because my mom would not let me.

The Backwaters

Later that day we went to the backwaters of Kerala, with foreigners (some hot guys as well! ^.^). And it was beautiful, I love water but that place made me crave for land. I had wished at that time if I could stay in Kerala forever. We had to stop for lunch and there we had North Indian food on banana leaves. Again one of my first experience of eating on a banana leaf.

The Backwaters! Photo By: Ramneek Flora

After that, we went to a small village where they made ropes. I got the first-hand experience on how to make ropes, it was an amazing time. 

The Practice of Rope Making. Photo By: Ramneek Flora

We had to leave the next morning for a different place but Kerala sure gave me so many good memories to talk about and share with people. There is just one thing that still bothers me is did anyone ever open that safe again? And I brought back a shell with me, always the rebel kid. 

Come along on a trip with these people

We love to go on trips and have fun. The mood stays good only if your company is good, so today I am going to tell you about the kind of friends you would definitely have with you on these lovely, mind refreshing trips. What fun is a trip with no one to share the fun?

the author of the group
The Author of the Group
Photo Courtesy: Pexels https://www.pexels.com/

The Author of the Group

  • This guy is basically the one who plans the whole trip. He is the most excited person for the trip and would also talk to your parents if they don’t allow. This guy would have the list of places one can visit, and the amount of money required and how would you reach the place. This guy is always ready. If I had this guy in my life, I would have been able to go on more trips.

“Oye kahi gumne chale?”
Author “Haan- Haan kaha jana hai? Shimla, Nahan, Manali? Tu bata bas, sara already planned hai”

The Silver spoon Guy on the Trip
Photo from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/

The Silver Spoon Guy

  • This guy is like the godfather to all those people who actually cannot afford to go on a trip, but then again they want to be there with you. He can afford the trip for many people.

“Bhai trip pe jana hai but paise nahi hai”
Silverspoon guy “Chill bro, mere pass hai. Tu bas bag pack karle”

The over packer on the trip
Photo Courtesy: Pexels https://www.pexels.com/

The Over Packer

  • This person does not really understand the concept of packing light, they want to take away everything as if it’s their last journey. But sadly this person always forgets the important stuff like towels, shampoos, and daily needed stuff. And you can find them asking for it from everyone.

“Bhai shampoo hai, I forgot mine”
“Bhai underwear hai? I forgot mine”

The Lazy Bum on the Trip!
Photo Courtesy : Pexels https://www.pexels.com/

The Lazy Bum

  • This guy never wanted to come on the trip in the first place. They would love to enjoy their cosy time alone in their room, but they came only because they thought it was fun and they won’t have anyone bothering them.

“Yaar wapas chale?”
“Yaar mein room mein ja raha hun, i dont want to do all this adventurous stuff”

Well, I really hope you loved reading this article and if you have not gone on a trip yet with your friends then you should soon. Because this is the time to have fun, so start today. And incase you want to read more about Travel blogs you can check them out here!

We The Foodie People: Types of Foodie

“I am a foodie, but I don’t eat chicken or egg”

How often have we heard this phrase “Oh! of course, I am foodie” but the next moment that person says that they don’t eat chicken and egg. And then you wonder what kind of foodie they really are, well they are not really foodie people, they just like to eat. I am sure you would have figured it out by now what I will tell you today, YES! We are going to talk about the types of foodie we see in everyday life.

people who only click pictures
Photo Courtesy: Pexels
Social Media Puppy.

We all have seen these people who wait for the food to come out only to click pictures. They probably have this passion for clicking pictures of food and obsessed with likes. But these people are also hell-bent on trying new food every time they get a chance.

Do it yourselves.

This person does not want to try anything from the outside and they don’t have a problem with making everything in their house. Maybe because they are just scared of the germs and the kinds of stuff they would use behind the kitchen doors. But the best part about these people is that they know what to make and how to make it.

The Junkie.

This person is only depended on fast food. They can go to McDonalds, KFC, Subway any time of the day and be content with the food. They don’t want to try anything new.

Allergic Foodie

This person just has a problem with all the things, they can’t have milk because they are lactose intolerant and then they can’t have wheat because it makes them bloated. And the end up having just the salad.

These are some kind of weird people who claim to be a foodie but we all know they are not. And if you are a foodie then prove it by eating things you love, try new cuisines, open up yourself to different tastes. Cause that is what a foodie does.

Want to read more Food Related content? Here.

THE LUGGAGE: Travelling Hacks!

We all love travelling, don’t we? But how many of us love packing? The whole chaos of going through our stuff of what to take and what to wear is what irritates us when we are packing. We generally don’t know the number of clothes we need to carry when it comes to packing. And just to help you with that we have some brilliant packing and travel hacks just for you.

The size of your bag.

Never carry extra luggage. You just don’t have to pay for the extra luggage. It also creates a lot of trouble when you are traveling constantly. So every time plan to take just one suitcase that you can fit in your aeroplane cabinet. If you do that you won’t have to pay for the luggage.

Clothes

3 T-shirts, 3 Lowers and probably everything in 3 is good. One is drying, one is washed and you are wearing one. This way you always have something to wear and none of your clothes would be dirty.

You can always fold and roll your clothes when it comes to packing. That way they would take less space and you can put other useful things in that saved space in your suitcase.

You can always wear your jackets rather than pack it because they tend to occupy more space.

Jewelry

This point is for all the girls when you are packing your jewellery what you can always do is, take straws to put one part of your necklace into the straw and then hook it with the other end. This way your necklace won’t take much space and it also won’t get tangled.

You can put your piece of jewellery inside the plastic wrap so that it does not move around much and also does not get tangled.

For your rings and earrings, you can always buy those small medicines boxes. This way you can put your rings and ear-rings into that to prevent it from getting lost in your clothes.

Shoes

Everybody has problems when it comes to packing our shoes. To pack your shoes you can always put them inside a shower cap and that will prevent it from getting the dirt on your clean clothes.

Socks

Socks can be very tricky while packing because they never have a specific place. So for your socks, you can put one sock on the other sock and then keep doing that until the time you are done with your socks, later you can always put them in your shoes.

*TIP* To secure your perfume you can put it in the socks and then put more socks on it to prevent it from breaking during the journey. This way you pack two things at the same time

Want to know more on travelling? Read this blog!

These are the things I do whenever I am travelling to a new place for my vacations and they help a lot. I really hope these small hacks helped you out. And Keep Travelling.